Packages are a ubiquitous part of nearly every product sold in this country. Packages serve many purposes for a product. For consumer products, the package provides easy to handle units of products, it protects the product during shipping and handling and attracts the customer's attention to the product.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,577,862 to Shaw discloses dispensing package for articles of an elongated nature. The example is a package for storing and dispensing shoe laces. The disclosure includes a body member which serves as a container for the articles. The body member has a back wall with side walls, but not top walls. The disclosed package includes a second member having both back and front walls as well as side walls which is disposed to telescope over the body member so as to form a closure for the contents. The cover member is in effect cut away at its lower corners so as to expose the articles, enabling them to be withdrawn from the package, and when the package is in a substantially vertical position the other articles will move by gravity downwardly so that as one is withdrawn a fresh one slides itself into location to be withdrawn.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,977,520 to Grimm discloses a package for housing cigarettes and the like having a sliding sleeve or like member designed to actuate a lid or closure structure, the closure member is easily actuated to and from open and closed positions by means of a simple sliding of a sleeve in a manner reciprocally of the receptacle. In all of the disclosed packages the slidable sleeve is attached to the closure member.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,056,047 to Grimm is an elaboration of the package disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,977,520 patent that describes the layout, assembly and machinery used to assemble the disclosed package. The Figures and the Description illustrate and describe the bonding of the sliding member to the receptacle.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,168,020 to Niedzwiedz discloses a reclosable sleeve pack for windshield wiper blades. The disclosed package has a sleeve that has an opening at one end which allows the sleeve to slide easily over the container. The sleeve fits over the tab end of the container and covers the opening in the container when the sleeve is in place on the container. The other end of the sleeve contains an enclosure which covers the tab end of the container including a portion of the tab.
While there are many types of packages for elongate objects, there is still a need for a package that can receive and contain elongate fragile objects. If such a package also could function as a display holder to enable a user to easily remove and replace objects from the packaging, the art of packaging would be advanced.